metasearching: the problem, promise, principles, possibilities & perils roy tennant california...
TRANSCRIPT
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Metasearching: The Problem, Promise,
Principles, Possibilities & Perils
Roy TennantCalifornia Digital Library
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Purpose
• To provide an overview, to set the stage
• To help you begin thinking both about the possibilities, as well as current issues and problems
• To hopefully leave you with the impression that despite the problems, it’s still very worth doing
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
The Problem
• Most users do not care where the information they need comes from, or who provides it…nor should they have to
• But our systems presently require them to know:– How to select one or more databases– How to get to them– How to use the unique search options for each
• How can we create systems that minimize what the user needs to know to get what they want?
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RemoteCatalogs
LocalCatalog Local
WebSite
RemoteWebSites
VendorDbs
RemoteDigitalContent
LocalDigitalContent
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RemoteCatalogs
LocalCatalog Local
WebSite
RemoteWebSites
VendorDbs
RemoteDigitalContent
LocalDigitalContent
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RemoteCatalogs
LocalCatalog Local
WebSite
RemoteWebSites
VendorDbs
RemoteDigitalContent
LocalDigitalContent
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RemoteCatalogs
LocalCatalog Local
WebSite
RemoteWebSites
VendorDbs
RemoteDigitalContent
LocalDigitalContent
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RemoteCatalogs
LocalCatalog Local
WebSite
RemoteWebSites
VendorDbs
RemoteDigitalContent
LocalDigitalContent
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
The Promise
• The “Holy Grail” of resource discovery: one-stop shopping
• The simplification of a formerly complex activity (put the complexity in the back end, not the front)
• Allows the user to focus on evaluating results, not figuring out where to search
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Before we talk specifics…
…let’s start with some principles…
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Principles
Only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Principles
All things being equal, one place to search is better than two or more.
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Principles
“Good enough” is often just that.
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Principles
Our ability to create effective one-stop searching is dependent on our ability to appropriately target user needs.
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Principles
The size of the result set doesn’t matter as much as how the results are presented.
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Principles
Services should be placed as close to the user as possible.
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Possibilities: Software Solutions
• Special “metasearching” software optimized for:– Creating and managing target and resource
profiles– Managing authorization and authentication– Parsing search strings and result sets– Merging, deduping, and ranking results
• Stand-alone or integrated with an ILS• Many vendors (although a number are
based on the same underlying software)
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Possibilities: Implementation Scenarios
• One search box for all resources (only for small libraries w/few targets)
• An interface that encourages/requires the user to select a subject or task group of DBs
• Tailored portals for particular needs and user communities or purposes (e.g., “a few good things”)
• Search boxes in other systems (e.g., courseware)
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Slide from Greg Van Essen, Endeavor
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Perils
• Software Provider Concerns• Database Provider Concerns• Library Concerns• User Concerns• Note: the following lists are not
comprehensive, but illustrative
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Software Provider Concerns
• Access management• Search mapping• Unreliability of targets• Systems that don’t support an API (that
must be screen-scraped)• Inadequate result data for good:
– Deduping– Ranking
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Database Provider Concerns
• Access control (robust authentication and authorization)
• Load• Inappropriate searches (searching
databases that don’t apply)• Branding and “unfair” deduping
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Library Concerns
• Selecting the right system• Cost (both upfront and ongoing)• System design and implementation• System maintenance
– Ability to add new resources/targets– Ease of interface changes– Ease of upgrades
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
User Concerns
• What must I go through before hitting the search button?
• How difficult is it to review results?• Are results ranked by relevance? (that will be my
assumption)• Will I get buried? (too many sources, too many
results?)• Do I have methods to easily focus in on what I want?• Once I find what I want, can I get to the full-text with
a click?• Can I copy a citation and put it in my paper?
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Possible Futures
• More standards for this type of interaction (i.e., support NISO’s efforts)
• Effective results ranking• Learning from other systems (e.g.,
RedLightGreen.com’s citation displays)• Dynamic selection of sources based on
user query
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NISO Metasearching Meeting, October 2003
Recap
• “One-stop shopping” for resource discovery is the Holy Grail of librarianship
• Metasearch services offer the best opportunity we’ve yet seen to attain this goal
• It ain’t perfect, but it’s well worth pursuing• If we can present solid resources next to
Google hits — and win back our users in the process — what’s not to like?